The grey-chested dove (''Leptotila cassinii'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

. It is found in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

, and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

.Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Gray-chested Dove (''Leptotila cassinii''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.grcdov1.01 retrieved September 23, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-chested dove is closely related to the

Tolima dove The Tolima dove (''Leptotila conoveri'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Taxonomy and systematics The Tolima dove is monotypic. It is closely related to the grey-chested dove (''Leptotila cassinii'' ...

(''Leptotila conoveri'') and

ochre-bellied dove The ochre-bellied dove or buff-bellied dove (''Leptotila ochraceiventris'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J ...

(''L. ochraceiventris''), and might form a superspecies with them. It has three subspecies, the nominate ''L. c. cassinii'', ''L. c. cerviniventris'', and ''L. c. rufinucha''.

Description

The grey-chested dove is long and weighs . The nominate subspecies has a pinkish gray forehead and face, dark brown crown and nape, and an iridescent grayish purple hindneck. Its upperparts are olive-brown with an iridescent green or purple mantle. The tail is darker than the back and the outer feathers have white tips. Its throat is white, the breast reddish gray, and the belly reddish. The eye is shades of yellow surrounded by bare gray skin that is reddish at its front and back. The legs and feet are red. Males and females are essentially alike but that the female is darker overall. ''L. c. rufinucha'' is paler than the nominate, with a purplish breast and a rusty buff crown and nape. ''L. c. cerviniventris'' is similar to ''rufinucha'' but the breast is a stronger purplish pink.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of grey-chested dove is found from Panama's

Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terri ...

into northern Colombia. ''L. c. cerviniventris'' is found from Chiapas in southeastern Mexico south through Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northwestern Costa Rica into western Panama. ''L. c. rufinucha'' is found in southwestern Costa Rica and northwestern Panama. It inhabits secondary forest from sea level to at most . On the Caribbean side of Costa Rica it is only found as high as .

Behavior

Feeding

The grey-chested dove forages on the ground alone or in pairs; it does not flock. Though its diet is poorly known, it has been documented eating seeds and small insects.

Breeding

The grey-chested dove's breeding season varies across its range. In Costa Rica it has two seasons, February to May and July to September. In Panama it breeds between February and September and in Colombia apparently from January to April. It builds a shallow platform nest of twigs and straw and places it from above ground on a tree branch or in a thicket or vine tangle. The clutch size is two eggs.

Vocalization

The grey-chested dove's song is "a single mournful monotonous note 'woOOOooo' which fades rapidly in and slowly fades out."

Status

The IUCN has assessed the grey-chested dove as being of Least Concern. Though its biology and ecology are poorly known, the species is considered fairly common in most of its range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1082117 grey-chested dove Birds of Central America grey-chested dove grey-chested dove Taxonomy articles created by Polbot